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Your World Today
London Pauses for First Anniversary of Attack; Plot to Blow up New York City Tunnels Disrupted; New Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza Targets; A Look Inside Radical Islam
Aired July 07, 2006 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A year has passed in London, but painful memories from the July 7th transport bombings remain.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A plot on New York's Holland Tunnel reminds that city it remains on the top of the terrorist target list.
GORANI: The United Nations takes on the flow of illegal guns and looks to stop the carnage that follows in its wake.
CLANCY: And they say that laughter is the best medicine, but for worshippers at your church it's also the sound of salvation.
GORANI: Hello, and welcome. Those are just some of the stories we're following this hour in our report broadcast around the globe.
I'm Hala Gorani.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.
From London, to New York, and Gaza, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
A year has passed, and Britain pauses to mourn lives lost, while the world takes stock of just what we've learned.
GORANI: Authorities have tried to get a better grip on homegrown terrorism, as it's called, after four suicide bombers killed 52 people in the London transit attacks last year.
CLANCY: But questions remain about the future as some young Muslims drift farther from their parents.
GORANI: And new plots emerge, such as one we're just learning about in New York.
We begin, though, in London, where mourners are carrying flowers to makeshift shrines, churches are holding multi-faith services, and heads are bowed in silent remembrance. Those are just some of the ways the city is honoring those who died in the bombings on a bus and three underground trains.
Our senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance, is outside Kings Cross station near the scene of the deadliest attack that day last year -- Matthew. MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks very much, Hala.
It's been a day of remembrance across this city, across this country as Britain marks the first anniversary of the London bomb attacks, which, of course, killed 52 people and injured hundreds. It's been a day of poignant memorials, tributes to the police, to the rescue workers, to ordinary passersby and civilians who did what they could to help back then. And, of course, to those who lost their lives, as CNN's Jim Boulden reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): 8:50 a.m., Kings Cross train station. London's mayor, Ken Livingston, and other officials lay flowers to market exact time bombs ripped through three tube trains on July 7th. The four homegrown suicide bombers went their separate ways at Kings Cross that morning a year ago.
The cards accompanying the flowers stated, "We shall never forget."
One attacker made his way to here, Tavistock Square, where his backpack bomb killed 13 on the Number 30 bus. Fifty-two commuters lost their lives that morning
REVEREND RICHARD CHARTRES, BISHOP OF LONDON It was an act of indiscriminate lovelessness and violence and, therefore, cannot be dignified by the association with any kind of faith.
BOULDEN: At midday, the nation stopped for two minutes of silence. Many of those caught up in the blasts are having to relive that terrible day.
NEESHA KAMBOJ, BOMBED TRAIN SURVIVOR: The memories are still very profound and vivid in my mind. It was exactly about 8:50 this time last year that our carriage was plunged into darkness. Since billowing smoke came into the carriage, we couldn't hardly see.
We couldn't hardly breathe. We were choking. People were panicking. It was carnage, really.
BOULDEN: Throughout today, families of those killed are gathering with many of the injured at various stations. Plaques with the names of the dead have been placed near each bomb, where passersby take time to leave flowers.
But on this 7/7, London's commuters took to the capital's trains and buses as usual. Life returned to normal in London within days of last year's attacks, and this day was no different for many.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm a strong believer in not letting them win, like the majority of this country is. And I just don't give it a thought. You know? I believe when it's my time to go, it's my time to go. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think a bit apprehensive. Definitely apprehensive. And I travel with my daughter as well. You know, you just worry about what might happen. So it doesn't just affect you, but it's affecting your children, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you get scared by that, you have no life anymore. And if you have to stop doing things that you do every day, it takes you. And that's exactly what they want.
BOULDEN (on camera): A day to remember and to reflect and to show those behind the bombings that life here goes on.
Jim Boulden, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE: Well, the main commemorative event of the day is yet to begin, but in just under an hour from now it's expected Regents Park in the center of London is expected to host a thousand survivors, families of those who lost their lives. They'll be joined by the prime minister and other British dignitaries in a show of unity on this July 7th, one year on.
Back to you -- Hala.
GORANI: All right. Matthew Chance in London.
And we'll be broadcasting live some of that commemorative service here on CNN, so please join us that. And we're going to have a lot more on this story as well -- Jim.
CLANCY: This, right. And coming up just in a matter of minutes, we're going to be talking with the editor of one of Britain's leading magazines for Muslims, "Q-News." She has some surprising opinions that she's going to share with us.
GORANI: And we'd also like your opinion about this...
CLANCY: How do you feel? Safer? Do you think authorities are getting better prepared?
GORANI: Do you think terrorists are getting more determined?
Let us know, YWT@CNN.com. We'll read some of your responses on the air here on YOUR WORLD TODAY.
CLANCY: U.S. officials say a terror plan to blow up New York City tunnels has been foiled. The FBI reports the U.S. and Lebanon joined forces to derail this plot.
Allan Chernoff is in New York. He has some more details for us.
Allan, any word on how they discovered this?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Well, the report in the "Daily News" is that -- and we have confirmed that -- is that the authorities were actually checking out Internet chat groups, and it was through information on the Internet that apparently they were able to uncover this plot.
And as you said, the Lebanese government was very helpful here. They actually do have one suspect that they've detained, a person by the name of Amir Andalousli. And we'll have further details in less than an hour's time, because there is a press conference planned here in New York City with the police commissioner, as well as the FBI here in New York.
But security today certainly is quite tight outside of the Holland Tunnel, both here on the New York side, and also on the other end, the New Jersey end. Keep in mind, the Holland Tunnel connects Manhattan to New Jersey, going underneath the Hudson River.
The "Daily News" reported that the Holland Tunnel was the target of this plot that apparently was broken up. We understand that there may have been other tunnels as well involved in the plot. We will learn certainly more within the hour at this press conference -- Jim.
CLANCY: As we look at all of this, people have to ask the obvious question, just how solid is this Holland Tunnel? What could it withstand? Did authorities comment on that?
CHERNOFF: The Holland Tunnel is pretty solid. It was built in 1927 and it was considered to be an engineering marvel back then.
It's actually a foot and a half thick in terms of the cast iron, and there are two tubes within this tunnel. There's also, of course, reinforced concrete. At its deepest, it is 93 feet below the surface.
So certainly a very solid tunnel. And the report also is that the terrorists were hoping to flood Lower Manhattan. Engineers say that is not feasible whatsoever.
Manhattan is actually built above sea level. Nothing like New Orleans. And apparently new Orleans was a bit of a motivation, a bit of an ideal for these terrorists -- Jim.
CLANCY: Allan, thank you.
Allan Chernoff, reporting there live from New York City.
GORANI: All right. Let's take a look at some other major stories around the world for you.
First to Iraq. At least 11 people are dead, dozens more wounded after a series of attacks on Sunni and Shiite mosques in that country. A mortar attack and a car bomb killed five people near two Sunni mosques near Baghdad. One as worshippers were leaving on Friday. Insurgent attacks on mosques everywhere killed at least six other people.
Now, earlier, a raid by Iraqi and U.S. forces into the Sadr City neighborhood killed or wounded more than 30 people. Witnesses say the fighting took place in an area controlled by the Medhi militia, who are loyal to the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The U.S. military describes the casualties as militants there in Sadr City and says the raid captured a "high-level insurgent leader." Al-Sadr's office says at least 10 seven civilians were killed in the clashes -- Jim.
CLANCY: To Asia, where Seoul, South Korea, saying it's going to be suspending food shipments to North Korea indefinitely until the issue of Pyongyang's missile test is resolved. Now, that decision came just hours before senior U.S. envoy Christopher Hill arrived in the South Korean capital on a tour, trying to put more pressure on Pyongyang.
Meantime, U.S. President Bush urged North Korean president Kim Jong-il to consider the well-being of his people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I said yesterday -- and I truly mean this -- I am deeply concerned about the plight of the folks who live in North Korea. I'm concerned about starvation and deprivation. I'm concerned that little children are being denied enough food so they can develop a mental capacity to be citizens of this world. I'm concerned about concentration camps.
There is a better way for the people of North Korea. And their leader can make better choices if he truly cares about their plight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: That was an at a press conference in Chicago a short time ago. The United States, President Bush urging Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks -- Hala.
GORANI: Israel renewed airstrikes against targets in Gaza as it presses on with a mission to search for a kidnapped captured soldier and halt rocket fire into the state. But many Palestinian civilians themselves are being caught in the crossfire. There are many developments in Gaza in the last few hours.
Our Paula Hancocks joins us now live from that strip of land with the latest -- Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hala, the casualty list here in Gaza is growing as Israeli airstrikes increase. There's still heavy shelling in northern Gaza, and also clashes between the Israeli military and Palestinians has shot up in the past couple of days or so.
We know from Palestinian medical sources that this Friday alone, six Palestinians have been killed. Now, we understand from those sources that three of them were members of the same family, killed early in the morning.
Now, the Israeli defense forces say that they did in fact shoot three missiles from -- form aircraft, and that was because they were trying to stop militants planting bombs. And they have been trying to clear the area even more in northern Gaza to stop militants, sending rockets, these homemade rockets, into Israel proper.
Now, this is a better day, if you can even say that, than Thursday. We had one of the bloodiest days in Gaza for about two years. Nineteen Palestinians died.
Now, also, one Israeli soldier died. And earlier on this Friday, we had Dan Halutz, the Israeli chief of staff, and Amir Peretz, the defense minister, going to meet the troops.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMIR PERETZ, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): As far as we are concerned, Hamas is fully responsible for current events. Therefore, the military operation is aimed at targeting Hamas and other organizations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: Now, on Thursday, evening, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh went to one of the hospitals to meet some of the wounded. Now, many of the wounded have been children that have been caught in the crossfire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISMAIL HANIYEH, PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): What is going on on Palestinian ground is a crime against humanity, by all means. It reflects the Israeli plan which aims to make the Palestinian people surrender and kneel down, which aims to occupy large areas of our land. It is a desperate effort to undermine the Palestinian government under the pretext of a search for the missing soldier.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: And at Friday prayers we saw many of the imams here in Gaza City calling on those praying to have patience, this was a test from god, and also saying that they should go and fight jihad.
Now, we also heard from the interior minister on Thursday evening, telling all the Palestinian security forces to take up arms and to fight against the Israelis coming into Gaza, mainly in northern Gaza -- Hala.
GORANI: All right. We will continue to follow developments in Gaza City.
Paula Hancocks joining us live.
Thank you, Paula.
CLANCY: Coming up here, more on the day of remembrance under way right now in London. GORANI: As the city honors the transit bombing victims, we'll try to understand how young Muslims there came to hate enough to kill their fellow Britons.
CLANCY: And the United Nations tackling a tough problem in the U.S. and abroad, the flow of illegal arms.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This morning I managed to come by to this, which is what I really wanted to do, I think. It was quite important to face it and say I'm not going to let it beat me, I can do it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think out of this often comes a strength beyond which anybody thought they could ever have. But that doesn't make what's happened right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: Welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY, where we bring our viewers around the world and in the U.S. the most important stories of the day.
GORANI: Now, many things about the London transit attacks a year ago came as a shock. We've heard there from some of the -- from some Londoners. One of the biggest was the identities of the four suicide bombers.
CLANCY: All were British-Muslims. They didn't come from abroad.
As we look back on what we have learned since that day, we want to try to bring in Fareena Alam. She's editor of the Muslim magazine "Q-News." She joins us now from London, right there at Kings Cross station.
One year ago, and you heard it as well right there in London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Muslim community leaders saying they were going to bridge the divide between the young Muslims and the larger British state. Has that process succeeded?
FAREENA ALAM, EDITOR, "Q-NEWS": I think the process has begun. The government started with a very laudable project of trying to consult with over a thousand British-Muslim leaders across the country.
I think that's a good start, because the -- usually what happens is that the government talks to the usual suspects, you know, two or three umbrella organizations that aren't necessarily in touch with what is going on on the grassroots with the young people. So that project of consulting and speaking to leaders up and down, the grassroots leaders, I think that was a good -- a good start. But I'm afraid it's fallen apart a little bit.
CLANCY: Why? ALAM: And also, sadly, the continued -- I think it's fallen apart because it's a very difficult thing to do. It's a very diverse community, very -- and a lot of, you know, confusion in the community.
Unfortunately, war in Iraq has continued to plague the minds of Muslims and others concerned about, you know, Western presence in Iraq and Palestine. So that's been -- that's further alienated a lot of young people. That needs to -- that needs to be dealt with.
CLANCY: All right. We talk in trying to deal with things. There was a recent survey that indicated 15 percent of young Muslims there in Britain where you are view attacks on innocent civilians in the "defense of Islam" as acceptable, as perhaps a proper course of action.
Do you see a problem with that?
ALAM: Absolutely. It's despicable. It's sick and it's twisted, and I really question why someone would feel this way. We live in this country. We enjoy so many things...
CLANCY: Well, it has to be coming from religious leadership, doesn't it? It has to be coming from the imams and...
ALAM: Well, I don't know. I think that there's a lot of -- there's a big divide between the imams and the young people.
The main problem we're having in this country is the young people not listening to the imams. They're getting their information from the badly translated books, from the Internet, from video Web sites which have videos and audio material.
We have no control over where -- where young people are getting their information. And, in fact, you know, to hunt down terrorists is such a difficult thing. You don't know where they meet, where they sit down and plan their activities, where this indoctrination is taking place.
So it's a very complicated issue. In fact, the imams feel at a loss.
We wish they listened to the imams. Yes, there are a few very radical imams. For example, an imam was caught on camera, unbeknownst to him, saying a few months ago that 7/7 was justifies. And I think he was, you know, rightly shamed in the media as soon as that was revealed.
CLANCY: All right. As we look at relations overall, the divide, perhaps, between the Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain and across Europe, is it growing?
ALAM: I think that relations between neighbors and just people in society, I think it has broken down. I felt that after 9/11 there was a lot of goodwill on both sides because we felt this was a very alien invasion on the U.S. But, you know, the idea that these four bombers are homegrown or -- they're our boys, they were born and raised in this country -- that was a real shock to at lot of people, not just non-Muslims.
To Muslims in this country it was a real betrayal. That's when I think it was. I felt betrayed that this city which I call home, I was born and I live here, this is my home, that someone would attack it in this way.
So in -- you know...
CLANCY: Fareena, could it happen again?
ALAM: ... it's a very big pill to swallow.
I think that it could.
CLANCY: All right.
ALAM: I don't know where they operate from or -- but, you know, we need to be prepared. Our intelligence really needs to improve if we're going to prevent something like this from happening again.
CLANCY: Fareena Alam, editor of "Q-News," one of the leading publications serving Britain's Muslim community.
Fareena, thank you very much for being with us.
ALAM: Thank you.
GORANI: All right. For our viewers in the United States, a look at headlines in the U.S. is next.
CLANCY: And for the rest of us, a business update.
GORANI: And later, we take you back to a deadly school shooting seven years ago.
CLANCY: A troubled journey into the minds of two highly disturbed teenagers. Their diaries are made public for the very first time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes.
First, though, let's check on stories making headlines here in the U.S.
Looking at New York City, could the tunnels there be inroads for terrorists? Federal law enforcement officials say they've defused a terror plot focused in and around the Big Apple.
Here is what we know in this CNN "Security Watch."
The FBI says the terrorists were planning attacks on the transportation system in New York and New Jersey. The alleged plot also targeted tunnels in New York's lower east side. Investigators say they uncovered the plans months ago while monitoring Internet chat rooms.
Officials in Lebanon have arrested one suspect in the case. Investigators say there is no imminent threat to American citizens.
CNN "Security Watch" keeps you up to watch on your safety. Stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
A frightening incident on a Delta flight from New York to Tampa. Officials say a soldier sprinted down the aisle and rammed the cockpit door and was tackled by fellow passengers.
An airport official says the man didn't have any weapons. His brother says the soldier is suffering from mental problems after serving in Iraq.
We expect a news conference on this at the top of the hour. And we'll bring that to you when it happens.
President Bush spending the day in Chicago. He gave a news conference to both the national and local media, answering a number of questions. But many of the questions focused on North Korea. And to answer that, the president stressed the need for the world to speak with one voice when dealing with Iran and North Korea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: It's just -- whether it be the Iranian issue or the North Korean issue, there is a way forward for these leaders that will lead to a better life for their people and acceptance into the international community. And one of the things we've done in the United States is to work with the coalition to send that message. It's a clear message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Don't miss Larry King's exclusive interview with President Bush and first lady Laura Bush. You'll see it again at Sunday night at 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.
All right. Take a look good look at this picture. You may never see it again.
New Jersey casinos completely empty. Today they're reopening. So is state governments.
Lawmakers and Governor Jon Corzine reached a budget deal to end a six-day standoff. The compromise will boost the sales tax one percent. Half of those funds will go toward property tax relief. The remaining half will be used to balance the budget as required by the state constitution.
What about the weather out there? Apparently a mixed bag, otherwise -- or weather-wise.
Reynolds Wolf taking a look at that.
Hi, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Daryn.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KING: From the world of entertainment, cancer is sidelining opera great Luciano Pavarotti. He his recovering from pancreatic surgery in New York. Pavarotti's manager told The Associated Press today that doctors removed a malignant pancreatic mass that was found shortly before Pavarotti was to resume his farewell tour.
The tenor's concerts for this year have been canceled. He hopes to resume touring in 2007.
Stay tuned to CNN "LIVE FROM" for more on the alleged New York tunnel plot. The FBI is holding a news conference at the top of the hour. You'll see that live here on CNN.
Meanwhile, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.
I'm Daryn Kagan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CLANCY: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Jim Clancy.
GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani. Here are some of the top stories we're following for you.
And we start with this. U.S. assistant secretary of state, Christopher Hill, has wrapped up a diplomatic mission to Beijing to try to persuade Chinese officials to take a harder line in dealing with North Korea in the wake of Wednesday's missile launches. The secretary said Beijing agreed the launches were a provocative act, but would not say if China had changed its mind about possible U.N. economic sanctions against North Korea.
CLANCY: U.S. law enforcement officials say they have disrupted a plot to employee up New York City tunnels. The plan was uncovered several months ago, just made public today by the "New York Daily News." Lebanese officials now confirming the arrest of one suspect, a university professor who admitted his involvement in the plan.
GORANI: Well, it's a solemn day of remembrance in Britain on the one-year anniversary of the London transit attack. A silence fell over the country as people paused to honor the 52 lives lost that day. London officials placed wreaths at Kings Cross Station at the moment the first of three bombs went off in the Tube, as it's called there in London. A fourth bomb hit a double-decker bus.
CLANCY: A year after these bombings, revulsion against the perpetrators, still palpable.
GORANI: So it may seem surprising that radicals among them continue to foster violence and support this type of act.
CLANCY: And some of them have even become more radical as they drift further from their parents.
GORANI: Nic Robertson introduces us to a community that is divided by hate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The enemy is (INAUDIBLE). It's called Satan, and he's in Falluja.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In a darkened room in Walthamstow, north London, young Muslims gather to watch disturbing videos: Iraqis suffering in the ongoing war. They are members of an emerging radical group, the Sabia (ph) sect.
On the same multi-media presentation, they also listen to Osama bin Laden's messages and debate their own extreme views.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people who are to blame for the 7th of July, are number one, the British government. No doubt about that. The British public are responsible and are to blame for what happened on the 7th of July because they voted for that government.
ROBERTSON: It is a year since the London bombings last July 7th. The bombers came from the north of England, were young and alienated from their parents, who had mostly emigrated to Britain decades earlier. If there is any doubt where this group's loyalties today, listen to the crowd cheer a litany of al Qaeda attacks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Twin Towers, they were bombed. Two billion came down, 3,000 people died. After that, they went for the Pentagon in New York.
(CHEERING)
ROBERTSON: And that with a CNN camera in the room. Their leaders espouse a vision that embraces nothing but their own radical view of Islam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any other way of life -- Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, atheism, communism, Catholicism -- all of these ways of life would not save anyone from hellfire, and they will be punished for this by Allah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our mosque, another one.
ROBERTSON: Mini-cab driver Khalil Rehman has been living in this respectable, quiet suburb since emigrating to England from Pakistan more than two decades ago.
KHALIL REHMAN, TAXI DRIVER: We are in a happily living community.
ROBERTSON: He is shocked the radicals from his children's generation are moving in, threatening the neighborhood's delicate multicultural balance.
REHMAN: Islam means peace. And that's what we are doing, living peacefully together in harmony, as a community.
ROBERTSON (on camera): What's so shocking for the community here is not just that they have radicals in their midst, but that the group has been meeting right next to the main mosque in meeting rooms up here, propagating their hardline values and beliefs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Twin Towers were bombed. Two billion came down, 3,000 people died.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Inside the mosque, we show its imam what's happening in the rooms next door. He is shocked.
GHULAM RABBANI, LEA BRIDGE ROAD MOSQUE: Really surprising. I could not expect the extent (ph) behavior, especially (INAUDIBLE) on desiccation. I think innocent people have been killed.
ROBERTSON: Rabbani leads the vast majority of the community's Muslims along a path of peace, tolerance and understanding. He could not be more different from the radicals next door.
RABBANI: We are proud to be Muslim and proud to be British. How can I say I am Muslim and not British? My religion is (INAUDIBLE), my country is Britain.
ROBERTSON: In the battle of beliefs, the lines are sharply drawn. Abu Muwaleed (ph) and friend say Imam Rabbani and other mainstream preachers no longer represent Islam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are the same people that are supporting the British government and justifying their policies and telling us to obey their laws and do obey manmade law and disobey God. So how are these -- how are these people -- who are these people to say that we do not understand Islam? They are the ones who calling us to disobey Allah and obey the queen.
RABBANI: I say very categorically and very clearly, they are misguided. They don't know the basis of Islam.
ROBERTSON: The rupture is opening a rift between generations. The hope here is that young Muslims will follow their parents and draw the minority radicals back into the fold.
(on camera): Walthamstow is one of the dozens of communities like this in London, one of hundreds across Britain. But it is in these communities where the battle for the hearts and minds of the Muslim community is being fought.
Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, one of the final remembrances this day will be perhaps the most heart-wrenching for victims' loved ones. The names of all of those who died will be read out loud. People are already gathering for the ceremony in London's Regents Park. It's set to get underway in about 20 minutes. We will bring some of that to you live right here on CNN.
CLANCY: It has become known as the deadliest school shooting in the history of the United States.
GORANI: Seven years ago, two teenagers went on a rampage at the Columbine High School in Colorado, killing 14 fellows and a teacher.
CLANCY: Now a flood of new documents written by the suicidal gunmen themselves has been released.
GORANI: Ed Lavandera has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a troubling journey into the minds of two highly disturbed teenagers. Nearly 1,000 pages of diary entries, notes and schoolwork written by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in the years leading up to the Columbine high school rampage were made public for the first time since the shootings seven years ago.
The documents include a blueprint of how the students planned to carry out the attack. There are chilling to-do lists, like get nails, get propane, fill my clips. A list of the gear they would need, including gas cans and cargo pants. They sketched out what they would wear and even mapped out the school cafeteria, researching how many people would be there at any given time.
And then there was the timeline. Set car bombs for 11:18, go outside to the hill and wait for bombs to go off, and then have fun.
Craig Scott was a sophomore at Columbine at the time of the shooting. He survived the rampage, but his sister Rachel did not.
CRAIG SCOTT: I think that the two shooters wrote these diaries so that we would be talking about it now. And I think they wanted to become infamous, and they wanted to go down in history. And this is how they were going to leave their mark on the world.
LAVANDERA: Among the pages released, this quote from Eric Harris' journal. "I'm full of hate and I love it. I hate people and they better fear me if they know what's good for them." He wanted the shooting to be remembered like the L.A. riots, the Oklahoma bombing, World War II, Vietnam all mixed together.
Dylan Klebold wrote about plans for the ultimate revenge and taking care of business. The papers included a should-have-died list, the names blacked out by authorities.
Sheriff Ted Mink authorized the release of these documents, in the hope some people can learn to prevent future school attacks by reading these pages.
The gunmen's parents did not fight the release.
TED MINK, JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFF: I think it contains a lot, like I say, of what they were feeling as far as their emotional, their relationships with girls, or, you know, wanting to have relationships with girls, and then it switches gears to the more violent part, tendencies of them, talking about what they were going to do and things of that nature. So I think it gives an overall picture of where these two were at in their lives.
LAVANDERA: About a month before the shootings, Harris and Klebold recorded what has become known as the basement videos. The sheriff says the disturbing tapes are a call to arms for other teenagers to carry out similar attacks. The sheriff could have released that tape, but chose not to, in fear of inspiring a copy cat crime.
Craig Scott says he'll read the diaries, but reminds people other students left words behind too, like his sister, who often wrote about treating people kindly in her journals.
CRAIG: It would be the two shooters' and dreams that we would all read their journals and we would all make them famous, and we have the power to do that, or we can choose to focus on somebody like my sister.
LAVANDERA: Authorities have now released some 20,000 documents relating to the Columbine investigation, but most people here still can't explain why this shooting happened.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Denver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well the Columbine massacre provoked widespread debate about access to guns worldwide.
CLANCY: Today an estimated $1 billion in illicit small arms enters the world market. That's according to the U.N.
GORANI: Lis Neisloss takes a closer look at what the U.N. is doing to try to crack down on illegal weapons, and how one mother is playing a part.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARIN WILSON, SON SHOT TO DEATH: This is the last photo that we took together.
LIZ NEISLOSS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Karin Wilson lost her son seven years ago, shot and killed in a robbery in Newark, New Jersey.
WILSON: They shot at him seven times, I found out. And the last bullet connected with his brain.
NEISLOSS: In her own neighborhood, Karin says she's learned to tell the difference between a gunshot and a firecracker. Still, she had to see the crime scene to understand her own son's death.
WILSON: It was like a gallon of red paint which was really my baby's blood.
NEISLOSS: Wilson's anger brought her to a meeting on guns at the United Nations, keeping the pressure on to curb the global flood of illegal weapons.
WILSON: And I have to do all I can to save everybody's children. I couldn't save my son, but maybe I can save yours or anyone watching me.
NEISLOSS: Most guns are produced and sold legally, but large gaps in weapons tracking and trading makes it easy for them end to up in the wrong hands. And each year, an estimated total of eight million new guns come on the market.
At the U.N., Karin met with other victims, literally a world apart but neighbors in suffering.
Shelly Barry (ph) is from Cape Town, South Africa.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was on my way to a job interview when we were shot at point blank range. The bullets went through my spinal cord, punctured both my lungs, cut through several ribs. And I will never walk again.
WILSON: Hi. My name is Karin Wilson. I live in Brooklyn, New York. I'm from the United States. I'm the same as any mother that's talking about their child in any country in this world.
NEISLOSS: Officials have been meeting at the U.N. for nearly two weeks trying to hammer out an agreement among nations to strengthen national gun laws around the world. But not everyone hopes the U.N. is successful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Human beings have a right to defend their lives and defend their loved ones and defend their families. And so we're here for human rights because gun rights is a human right.
WAYNE LAPIERRE, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: It's not an issue of firearms. It's an issue of evil people and evildoers, and you crack down on them, you take them off the streets, and you put them in prison. That stops crime, that stops evil-doing.
NEISLOSS: Karin Wilson wants people to remember what it's like to be the victim of a gun-related crime.
WILSON: I say to them, I hope no one in your family ever, ever, ever becomes a victim of gun violence. I hope you never know what I feel.
NEISLOSS: Liz Neisloss, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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GORANI: Welcome back, everyone.
CLANCY: Seen live in more than 200 countries around the globe, you're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.
GORANI: Now it's the most storied Spanish tourist attraction and probably the most dangerous.
CLANCY: Undoubtedly. Every year hundreds come to run with the bulls in Pamplona, at the risk of being gored or trampled.
GORANI: Just two days into this year's festival, seven people already have been injured.
CLANCY: Now among them, Hala, is a young American. We are hearing now that he can't move his legs. He may have been paralyzed. He was injured, really tossed in the air by a young cow. Now this was in an event featured after the bull run.
GORANI: All right, moving on to another story. For most people going to church is not a laughing matter.
CLANCY: No, but one pastor in Tampa, Florida, a former South African preacher and a big game hunter, is bringing tears of joy to thousands of his followers.
Tom Foreman picks ups the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On a warm night in Tampa, young people are out looking for laughs. But hundreds are bypassing comedy clubs, to get their chuckles at church.
And guffaws, roars, screams, all standard fare at the laughing church, where Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne says the Holy Spirit is making folks howl.
PASTOR RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE, REVIVAL MINISTRIES: They laugh and they're crying, they're shaking, they're falling out of their seats. And I knew it had nothing to do with me. Because you cannot take a crowd and make them do that.
FOREMAN (on camera): You don't buy the fact that you're a funny guy?
HOWARD-BROWNE: Well, I use a lot of humor because I do use humor, but that's just the way I am.
Because I've got news for you, he arose. He ascended on high.
FOREMAN (voice-over): This is worship for Reverend Howard-Browne and his thousands of followers.
HOWARD-BROWNE: He is coming back! He is coming back! King of kings and Lord of lords!
FOREMAN: Unlike other Pentecostal Christians who speak in tongues, these people say the joy of salvation makes them laugh uncontrollably.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the most amazing feeling. I can't explain it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flying high. Flying high.
FOREMAN (on camera): What is it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the Holy Spirit.
FOREMAN: Look at this. Oh, my.
HOWARD-BROWNE: This is my little piece of Africa.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Howard-Browne was once a little known South African preacher and part-time big game hunter. But he and his wife, Adonica (ph), have fostered a global outreach program based in America and staffed by 70 people, all enthralled with holy laughter.
(On camera): The preacher says believers overcome with laughter have been recorded since ancient times in biblical passages about unrestrained joy. Yet it remains controversial. Almost unknown in most other churches.
HOWARD-BROWNE: Because religion always wants to beat you down and make you dependent upon, it's like a drug. If I can make you feel guilty, then you'll come back next week and then I'll keep you in that place of guilt.
FOREMAN: That's a very cynical view of religion.
HOWARD-BROWNE: Well, maybe I have a hard time with religion because I see what it is doing around the world. Religion feels its job is to condemn. Jesus didn't come to condemn.
(SINGING)
FOREMAN (voice-over): Howard-Browne himself has suffered great sorrow. On Christmas morning 2002, his 18-year-old daughter Kelly died in his arms of cystic fibrosis. A loss he lays at the devil's doorstep.
Is this about revenge?
HOWARD-BROWNE: For me? It probably is. Only way I can hurt him is by seeing people touched and set free.
(SINGING)
FOREMAN: Many people say they are touched. Some laugh for minutes, some for hours. Howard-Browne blesses them all, the saved and the skeptics alike. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I thought, God, you've got to be kidding me if you want me to go to this church.
HOWARD-BROWNE: Church should be the happiest place on the earth. People that love Jesus should be happy.
FOREMAN: And they certainly seem to be. Here where Rodney Howard-Browne sends the devil on the run and God always gets the last laugh.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Tampa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. We want to take you straight to Boston where we're hearing from Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Revelation of a threat stream that came to light some months ago. It's going back several months. At the time it surfaced, the appropriate enforcement authorities took immediate steps to disrupt the completion of any plot.
We were, of course, in immediate communication with the relevant state and local authorities so they were fully engaged with us in making sure that no plot could be carried out. We take all threats seriously. We don't wait until someone has lit the fuse to step in and prevent something from happening. That would be playing games with people's lives.
So we always intervene at the earliest possible opportunity, just as we've done in a series of operations we've undertaken over the last couple of months where we have stepped in and arrested people based on charges of material support to terrorism. So again, it's a reminder of the fact that this type of threat remains with us.
Last year's attacks in London, 2004's attacks in Madrid and, of course, the attacks in 2001, are all reminders of the fact that we cannot drop our guard, but at the same time, people can rest assured that we move very swiftly at the first sign of a plot and we do not wait until the last minute to intervene.
QUESTION: There's been reports about that threats were directed toward the Holland Tunnel, they were directed toward other aspects of transportation. Can you talk a little about how extensive and well- planned those were?
CHERTOFF: I don't think I'm going to get into the details or specifics of the particular threat. As I say, we did not wait and we do not wait until the fuse is lit.
We swoop in as early as possible because experience shows -- and I think London is a great example -- that the distance between planning and actually operational activity is a very short distance. And anybody who thinks they have time to wait and see how things play out, I think is really taking a foolish approach to the issue of security.
So we took it seriously. We were very closely coordinated with the state and local authorities, so there was never a concern that this would actually be executed. We were, as they say, all over this. But you know, we can't afford to rest on our laurels. We have to constantly be vigilant.
QUESTION: But will you confirm that it was a threat against the Holland Tunnel?
CHERTOFF: You know, I'm not going to confirm there's a threat against a particular piece of infrastructure, and I'm not even going to get into the specifics of it. I'm going to say that we acted quickly, we did not wait until the last minute, so we were not at a point at which we were concerned that something might happen imminently and that is, I think, the prudent thing to do.
You know, we've got to take steps before things become an imminent threat because you can't always calculate it that closely. So that was the philosophy we took in this particular case and it's the philosophy we take in all cases.
QUESTION: How effective (ph) is the monitoring of Internet chat rooms in stopping some of these threats? Why is that (INAUDIBLE), and is it enough to make an arrest based on listening to the chat?
CHERTOFF: Well, let me say this. One of the critical tools that we have in detecting plots before they come to fruition is our ability to intercept communications, whether it's telephone communications, whether it's Internet communications, that's one of the reasons we keep emphasizing how important intelligence gathering is as a tool.
It's kind of the 21st century radar to prevent an attack before it happen happens. And if we were not able to use these techniques, we would be flying blind in the face of these kinds of plots.
So, again, without getting specific as to this particular media eruption, I will tell you that we rely upon the ability to gather intelligence through all sources as the most important tool we have in protecting the American people, in fact, protecting people all over the world.
QUESTION: Sir, does this incident, the arrest in Canada, the arrest in Miami, does it show that intelligence is getting better, does it show there's a lower threshold or tolerance for any sort of activity? What does it tell the people that you've sort of observed an activity in this area?
CHERTOFF: I think it says a number of things. First of all, intelligence is better and intelligence sharing is better. We're better coordinated, and not just within the country, but internationally. And I think you're seeing the fruits of that.
As we get better intelligence coverage, we are able to detect more things that are going on. And it is true that we try to intervene as early as possible. I mean, once there is a basis to determine that someone has violated law and poses a potential threat, we don't wait until they actually get to the final stages of a plan.
We move very quickly. Sometimes that causes skeptics to say well, you know, the people you're arresting are not really serious or they don't really have the capability to carry something out.
And without getting into a particular case, because a lot of these cases are in court and I don't want to get accused of prejudicing them, I can tell you that if you look back at London, it is a mistake to assume that the only terrorist that's a serious terrorist is the kind of guy you see on television who's a kind of James Bond type.
The fact of the matter is mixing a bomb in a bathtub does not necessarily take rocket science. And we would be dangerously putting people at risk if somehow we believed that only criminal masterminds or terrorist masterminds are threats.
If you look at Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, who if you'll recall, I believe, was on a flight coming into Boston, I mean, he looked like a clown, but if he had gotten that bomb lit, there would be several hundred people who would have lost their lives over the Atlantic Ocean.
So my suggestion to skeptics who think that somehow the only threat is one which comes packaged like a television program is look at the historical record, look at the people who have actually successfully carried out terrorist attacks all over the world.
Look at the people who put bombs on themselves and walk into restaurants in Israel, for example. You do not have to be a mastermind or a rocket scientist to be a dangerous terrorist and we're not going to wait until people to prove themselves to prevent them from carrying out their attacks.
QUESTION: A year ago you had suggested that security for transit systems was more state and local responsibility than a federal. Do you still feel that way today?
CHERTOFF: Well, it's a partnership and, of course, in the airports as you know, the screeners who perform the bulk of the jobs we use at the -- for aircraft protection, they're all federal employees. Now, obviously, here I don't think the chief is volunteering to have the federal government take over his department, nor do we want to do that.
What we do want to do and what we have done is work with the chief to train his folks, get them dogs, for example, for these canine teams, help fund video cameras and other kinds of sophisticated equipment. The idea is to give the chief the tools that he and his folks need to do their job as efficiently as possible.
QUESTION: Sir to be clear on the New York incident, was it a credible threat in your mind to the infrastructure there?
CHERTOFF: We took it seriously. Enforcement activity was undertaken. Any danger was disrupted and I think that speaks for itself.
QUESTION: Well, earlier you said that you can't guarantee security in terms of these. What can you tell the riding public after taking (INAUDIBLE).
CHERTOFF: Let me tell you, I would not hesitate, and I wouldn't hesitate to tell my family to get on the subway here or all over the country to ride. I think that we should not be bullied out of getting on the train, we shouldn't give terrorists the idea they can scare us off our trains. I have no hesitation in saying it is a safe mode of transportation.
On the other hand, we do live with a certain amount of risk in life. Sometimes it's risk from natural disaster. What our job is, is to reduce the risk as far as possible, and that's what we're doing.
Part of that, though, is public participation, and I go back to this issue with the packages. If you see people putting backpacks down and walking away, that is something you ought to call to the attention of a police officer or a conductor or another official. That's called ...
WHITFIELD: Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff talking about the foiling of an alleged plot to blow up the Holland Tunnel, as well as another bridge in New York. We're following the story from all angles on "LIVE FROM," which begins right now.
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